The Iowa Cubs swept the doubleheader against the Albuquerque Isotopes Friday night at Principal Park, 8-6 and 7-0.
In his first start of the season, Hector Carrasco shutout the Isotopes, striking out 10 batters in six innings of work. The Cubs backed up Carrasco with stellar offense. Casey McGehee and Micah Hoffpauir each homered in the win.
Andres Torres singled and was driven in when Jason Dubois doubled to left field. The Cubs would go on to score two more in the inning when Ben Broussard hit a sacrifice fly to score Bobby Scales and Dubois scored on Casey McGehee¹s double.
Iowa would take their 3-0 lead and add another run in the third on a McGehee home run.
The I-Cubs added three more runs in the seventh on a three-run home run by Hoffpauir for the 7-0 finale. Chris Michalak (0-3) took the loss for
Albuquerque.
The Iowa Cubs got of to a good start in game one as the team batted around and scored six runs in the first inning. Torres started things off with a double and Josh Kroeger hit a three-run homer that scored Broussard and McGehee. Koyie Hill drove in a run with a triple to center for an early 6-0 Iowa lead.
Dallas McPherson homered in his seventh consecutive game, setting a new Albuquerque record, to get the Isotopes on the board, 6-1.
Kroeger finished the first game 2-for-2 with four RBI. Iowa¹s starter Justin Berg (3-4) threw six solid innings to earn the win. He struck out four and allowed three runs on three hits in the Cubs¹ 8-6 win.
Bobby Keppel (7-7) was tagged with the loss for Albuquerque.

Jackson, TN- For the second game in the series the Tennessee Smokies (35-45, 8-2) pounded out 20 or more hits in the process of a third blowout win in the series beating the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx (44-36, 3-7) at Pringles Park, 12-6 Friday Night. The win marked the teams sixth straight which is a season long.

Tennessee scored first for fourth consecutive game at Pringles Park. Sam Fuld and Nate Spears both singled in the top of the first. Diamond Jaxx starter Ryan Ketchner balked the pair to second and third for Jake Fox. Fox then hit a deep pop-fly to right field that scored Fuld.

Mike Wilson evened the score at 1-1 with deep double in the bottom of the first. His blast was played off the fence by Fuld who relayed it in time to catch Wilson in between second and third base. The running blunder shortened the inning as West Tenn could not add another score.

The Smokies would post four runs between the second and third innings. Sam Fuld batted home two in the third inning with his bases loaded single. Matt Craig singled and Welington Castillo doubled to set the table in the fourth. Deeds sacrifice fly scored Craig, then Josh Lansford drove Castillo across the plate with a base hit to make it 5-2.

Matt Craig lifted a homerun off the top of the left-center field sixteen foot fence and over. The three-run shot was followed by a solo homerun by Castillo for a 9-2 Smokies lead.

The Diamond Jaxx went deep twice in the bottom of the fifth off Smokies starter Donnie Veal. First Greg Holliman then three batters later Adam Moore which made the score 9-6.

The Smokies would add another three runs between the seventh and eighth innings to ice the game. Matt Matulia got the seventh going with a drag bunt single. He would then move to second on a throwing error, and scored when Spears grounded out. Tyler Colvin tripled home Spears to make it 11-6. Spears drove home Lansford in the eighth which added a twelfth Tennessee run.

The Smokies continue their series Saturday Night in Jackson, TN. Alex Maestri (0-0) will make his Tennessee debut start against the Diamond Jaxx left hander Justin Thomas (5-5).

Peoria, IL - The Peoria Chiefs found themselves trailing by two runs headed into the bottom of the ninth inning but rallied for three runs in the final frame to beat the visiting Kane County Cougars 8-7 at O’Brien Field on Friday evening. The win is the fourth in a row by the Chiefs to bring them to 4-5 in the second half and 34-43 overall.
Trailing 7-5 entering the bottom of the ninth, the Chiefs put together one more rally against Kane County reliever Justin Friend. Brandon Guyer started the inning with a smash single past the third basemen. Cliff Andersen singled back up the box with Guyer running on the play to give the Chiefs runners at the corners with no outs. A sacrifice bunt by Elvis Lara moved Andersen to second, and a wild pitch from Friend scored Guyer to make it 7-6. Down to their final strike, Samson blooped a base hit into right field to tie the game 7-7. Marquez Smith hit a ground ball that looked like it would send the game into extra innings, but the third baseman Justin Frash’s throw got away from first baseman Greg Dowling. Samson, who was running on the play, scored the winning run all the way from first base to give the Chiefs an 8-7 win.
The Chiefs offense picked up right where they left off at the end of the road trip in the first inning against Kane County starter Jamie Richmond. Jonathan Wyatt lined an opposite field single to left to start the frame. Samson followed with a perfectly executed hit-and-run that gave the Chiefs two runners in scoring position with no outs. During Marquez Smith’s at-bat, Richmond fired a wild pitch to the backstop that allowed Wyatt to score from third to make it 1-0. Josh Donaldson grounded out to third, but Samson scored to give the Chiefs a 2-0 advantage.
Kane County answered back in the second inning against Peoria starter Robert Hernandez. After retiring the leadoff man, Hernandez surrendered a solo home run beyond the berm in left-center to Jake Smith to cut the Chiefs lead to 2-1. Hernandez gave up a double to Todd Johnson before striking out Shane Keough looking to end the inning.
Peoria got back on the board in an adventurous third inning. With one out Samson hit his second home run of the season that just cleared the wall in left field to extend the Chiefs lead to 3-1. Kane County manager Aaron Nieckula protested the call and was ejected from the game by home plate umpire Justin Sassman. Marquez Smith was the next batter to the plate and was drilled in the arm by a pitch from Richmond that caused both benches to empty but only words were exchanged.
The Cougars got on the board via the long ball again, this time in the fourth inning against Hernandez. Larry Cobb hit a home run to start the inning into the berm in left field to make it a 3-2 game. The next batter, Corey Brown, homered to the Pepsi Picnic Plaza in right-field to tie the contest 3-3.
Kane County homered for the fourth time on the night in the fifth, again off Hernandez. Matt Ray led the inning off with a base hit, and Adam Klein followed with a two-run blast to right-field to put the Cougars in front 5-3. Justin Frash followed with a double into the left field corner to chase Hernandez from the game. Chris Siegfried came out of the bullpen and gave up a double to Cobb that scored Frash to make it a 6-3 Cougars lead. Jake Smith drove in a run with a sacrifice fly that allowed Cobb to score and extend Kane County’s advantage to 7-3.
It was the Chiefs use of the home run ball in the fifth inning to climb back into the game. Lara reached on an infield single to start the inning and quickly stole second base to get into scoring position. Wyatt hit a no-doubt two-run shot off Richmond beyond the Pepsi Picnic Plaza in right field to pull the Chiefs to within 7-5.
Hernandez worked four innings and did not retire a batter in the fifth. He allowed six runs on eight hits, including four home runs. He struck out a pair and did not walk a batter. Siegfried allowed one run in 1 1/3 of work while striking out one and did not issue a walk. Jon Mueller pitched a scoreless inning out of the bullpen while allowing one hit and striking out a pair. Steve Vento worked two scoreless frames to pick up the win in relief for the Chiefs.

Players of the Game - Nate Samson (SS)- Samson finished the night 4-for-5 including his second home run of the season and scored the game winning run in the bottom of the ninth. The four-hit performance was the second by a Chiefs player this season.

Notes…The first two hitters in the Chiefs line up (Wyatt and Samson) were a combined 7-for-10 with two home runs, five runs scored and four RBI…Tonight marked the 15th come from behind win by the Chiefs this season…The walk off win was the five this season for the Chiefs…Peoria scored two runs in the first inning for the second straight game…The four home runs allowed by Hernandez brings his career total to 16, which moves him into 10th all-time in Chiefs history…The Chiefs pitching staff has allowed a league-high 61 home runs this season…In the last 22 innings Chiefs starting pitchers have walked only three batters…Samson’s home run was the second of his career and first since hitting a walk-off homer against West Michigan on April 16…Peoria has homered 27 times at O’Brien Field this year and 51 times overall which is third best in the league…Over the last 10 days, Luis Bautista is hitting 10-for-31 with five home runs and nine RBI… The two teams will continue their four-game series on Saturday evening at 6:30…Following the contest will be the first of two fireworks shows on the homestand…Saturday night’s spectacular fireworks show will be presented by Heart Technologies…Prior to the fireworks there will be another Pitch-In for Charity presented by Aquatech Pool and Spa and Little Caesar’s Pizza, tennis balls can be purchased for $1 during the game with all proceeds benefitting Make-A-Wish Foundation of Illinois…Peoria will send RH Audy Santana (0-4, 3.72) to the mound against RH Tyson Ross (0-0, 0.00) for Kane County

BOISE, Idaho - Ryan Sontag blooped a safety squeeze over Yakima reliever Bryan Woodall’s glove, allowing Jake Opitz to score from third, lifting the Boise Hawks to a 7-6 win over the Bears before a sellout crowd of 3,485 at Memorial Stadium.

After Yakima struck for five runs in the top of the ninth on five straight singles - tying the game on a Josh Vitters fielding error, allowing Brendan Duffy to score the tying run with two outs, the Hawks rallied. A one-out double by Carlos Perez put the winning run at second, with Opitz running for the catcher. A Drew Rundle single to right put runners at the corners, with Sontag squeezing home the game-winner on Woodall’s first pitch.

Boise jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first on Vitters’ first professional homer, a long three-run shot to left center. They cruised through eight innings, thanks to four shutout innings from Marcus Hatley and four quality innings from Jay Jackson in relief, striking out seven.

Ryan Flaherty went 3-for-5 for the Hawks, part of a season-high 15-hit attack, while Andrew Fie had three hits for the Bears.

Game 2 of the series is at 7:15 p.m. tomorrow night with Mark Pawelek meeting Houston Summers.

Jackson, TN - All nine Smokies starters had at least one run batted in as The Tennessee Smokies (34-45, 7-2) won for a season best fifth straight game on route to blowing out West Tenn Diamond Jaxx (44-35, 3-5) at Pringles Park, 11-5 Wednesday Night.

Tennessee broke out to an early seven run lead with four in the first, and a three run second. Tyler Colvin tripled home Nate Spears making it 1-0. Matt Craig sent home Colvin with a single and moved Jake Fox, who drew a walk down to second. Doug Deeds then doubled home Fox setting up a Kyle Reynolds Sacrifice Fly and a 4-0 lead.

The second inning got going with a leadoff single by Matt Camp and Sam Fuld reaching on a fielders choice. Spears doubled to centerfield scoring Camp and moving Fuld to third. Colvin and Fox then would both collect run producing sacrifice flies making it 7-0 Smokies.

West Tenn broke threw against Tennessee starter Mitch Atkins with a run in the second. Johan Limonta doubled to start the inning and scored on a throwing error on third baseman Kyle Reynolds.

The Smokies scored three more in the fifth for a 10-1 lead. West Tenn reliever Craig James walked the first four batters of the frame forcing home a run. Matt Camp then ground into a fielders choice scoring the second and Sam Fuld doubled in the third.

Matt Mangini doubled home three runs with two gone in the sixth to knock Atkins out of the game making the score, 11-4.

Mitch Atkins (7-6) pitched 5.2 innings in the start allowing three runs on seven hits with two walks and five strikeouts. Atkins recorded his third straight win in as many starts.

Mark Holliman pitched 2 innings of scoreless relief retiring all six batters he faced with three strikeouts.

The Smokies continue their series Friday Night in Jackson, TN. Lefthander Donnie Veal (4-5) will start against the Diamond Jaxx righthander Ryan Katchner (6-2).